VIP Loft NZ

08/09/2023

After nearly 11months or exactly 324 days... 569km,
Nagbabalik from Kaikoura (old bird race Oct. 15, 2022).... Anyare???
Nadagit pero nakatakas? or nabuhay sa Wild?

Salamat at nakabalik ka 😁

17/02/2023

Young bird ronda practice
😎😎😎

29/10/2022

Young birds enjoying the afternoon sun.
😎😎😎

29/10/2022

Young birds in training...

23/09/2022

23/09/2022

Young birds in their loft viewing area.
Breeder area.

22/08/2022

More young birds 2022

😎😎😎

18/08/2022

2022 Young Birds.

😎😎😎

24/07/2022

PROPULSION
When gliding, a bird’s wing behaves like an aeroplane wing and lift is generated by its forward movement through the air. The magical difference about a bird’s wing is that not only the shape of the wing but also the shape of the flight feathers change during flight in the motion of the wing beat. Indeed, this must occur because the avian wing, unlike that of the plane, must not only provide lift but also forward propulsion.

When assessing the wing for propulsion. It is the length, shape and condition of the primary flights that are the most important.

The primary flight feathers
In each primary feather, the trailing edge of the vane (each feather is made up of the central quill with a web of filamentous material called the vane extending from two opposite sides) is broader and more flexible than the leading edge. As the wing beats down, the vane twists with the trailing edge going up and forcing air backwards to produce forward thrust. To fly faster, the bird flaps its wings faster to make the primaries twist more and increase thrust. On the up stroke, the wing is pulled closer to the body and the primaries are separated, allowing air to pass through them. This avoids the wing pushing the bird down. Interestingly, a small backward sweep of the wing as it comes up into the final upstroke position forces the top surface of the primaries down against the air to give the bird an extra forward push.

The wings of a racing pigeon must be of a size that can be comfortably moved and in proportion to the size of the bird’s body, otherwise flight will become inefficient; leading to premature fatigue. A good analogy here is a set of human rowers that are given a set of oars that are either too large or too small. Too small, and the oars can be moved very quickly but progress is slow; too big and enormous strokes can be made, covering a good distance, but fatigue quickly sets in. In the same way, the length of the primaries must match the size of the bird.

As a general rule, however, it does seem that distance birds have longer primaries (and also shorter secondary flights) than sprint birds. Short wings can be moved quickly up and down. Resulting in a rapid flight. By contrast, the longer wings of distance birds take longer to move up and down but each stroke propels the pigeon a greater distance (in the same way that the step of a human with long legs covers more ground). This means that the distance birds travel further for a given number of wing beats. This combined with other factors allows distance birds to fly further and longer without becoming tired. Because of the extra effort involved in flying on short wings, sprint birds can only maintain their speed for a short period of time. It is not unusual for successful distance birds to have the tenth flight the longest and some have the eight, ninth and tenth flights all the same length. In sprint birds, usually the ninth flight is the longest. One can appreciate the difficulty that birds forced to race when they are growing their outer flights must have in maintaining forward propulsion.

Distance birds also tend to have more spacing (or ventilation) between the last four primary feathers. This enables air to easily slip through during the upstroke, minimising the effort involved to bring the wing up. Sprint birds tend to have wider end flights with rounded fuller vanes at their tips. As it is the air trapped by the vane on the down stroke that generates forward propulsion, making the flights broader results in a faster flight. This does, however, make the wing harder to push down because of increased air resistance and also harder to pull up because of the lack of gaps for air to slip through. These factors contribute to a more rapid onset of fatigue.

It goes without saying that the primary flights need to be strong but supple to efficiently cope with the demands placed on them with each wing beat. As mentioned earlier, feather quality is determined by the bird’s genetics and level of care.

And so, what type of wing is a bird going to need so that it can win if it is good in other respects? In summary, the rules of aerodynamics tell us that the wing should be in proportion to the rest of the bird’s body, have an obvious camber, be well supported at the shoulder and covered in feathers of good quality. The secondaries should provide a full inner wing but be no longer than the shortest primary feather. In addition, for birds to be successful in long races, the primary flights, particularly the last four, should be longer but thinner at their ends while speed pigeons are more likely to have shorter wings with wider vanes. Like all rules, there will be exceptions but it is hoped that these notes help in enabling fanciers to make an informed assessment of their birds wings.

17/07/2022

Upgraded breeding loft.
"The Godfather" and "Mothergoose" watching over the 2 cages with breeding pairs.
Now it's just a waiting game.

😎😎😎

13/07/2022

Breeding time!

😎😎😎

07/07/2022

Skytroopers enjoying the windy weather. ☁️🌬🕊

😎😎😎

02/07/2022

Succesful first toss at 13km for the skytroopers... it took them 20 minutes to get home plus another 6 minutes of ronda time around the loft area before settling down...

😎😎😎

01/07/2022

Sky troopers... Train train train... in the rain rain rain...

😎😎😎

20/06/2022

Sky Troopers for the old bird racing season.

😎😎😎

15/06/2022

Afternoon ronda!
1 hour of fly time...

😎😎😎

30/05/2022

Siesta time on the landing board... after some good fly time...
😎😎😎

27/05/2022

Fly time on a sunny day!
Sky Troopers Ronda time!
😎😎😎

29/03/2022

New arrival. 6 breeding pairs (including 2 loaned pairs). 4 pairs kindly received from a champion fancier here in NZ. All great racing pigeons from the Janssen line, with one Federation champ and a couple of pigeons from the line of World Renowned Long Distance Pigeon Racing Champion and Legend Mac Armstrong. 😎😎😎

29/03/2022

2nd Sky Trooper at Day 7. 😎
From Blue Check parents.

19/03/2022

First Sky Trooper finally weaned off, after extended stay...
Training up next...😎😎😎